Health officials investigating suspected case of brain-eating amoeba in Arizona

The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control has tested a specimen for Naegleria fowleri infection and it came back negative.

Public health officials in Mohave County and the Arizona Department of Health Services sent the sample to the CDC Tuesday for possible exposure of the brain-eating amoeba.

According to the CDC, Naegleria fowleri infections are rare; between zero and five cases were diagnosed annually from 2013 to 2022 in the United States. A total of 29 infections have been reported.

A case of Naegleria fowleri was confirmed in Mohave County, where the case was exposed in Lake Havasu in 2007.

A Nevada resident was also confirmed as a Naegleria fowleri case following exposure in the Kingman Wash area, on the Arizona side of Lake Mead in 2022.

It is unclear what led to health officials thinking there may have been a case of Naegleria fowleri or if they will now test the same for any other organisms.